RIVANCH

New Delhi: Soon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a whopping 66 per cent hike in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to Rs 79,590 crore in the Union Budget, the most interesting political signal came from Lucknow. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath publicly emphasised that the increased flow of funds would allow Uttar Pradesh to provide houses to all remaining beneficiaries of the scheme by 2024. Free housing for the poor under this scheme has been a fundamental driver of the BJP’s growth in the Hindi heartland, and Yogi’s comments about “saturation” housing coverage by 2024 were a revealing indicator of the BJP’s thinking on the political economy as India embarks on the road to 2024. “In the last six years, UP has received 45.5 lakh houses under the scheme,” Yogi said. “Recently, the state received 10 lakh new houses under the scheme and the budget has now provided for 4 lakh new beneficiaries who remained to get houses. In my estimate, UP will now be completely ...

New Delhi : Moo-ah! St. Valentine’s Day has come to the animal kingdom. And why not? Because love is all around, so why shouldn’t the cows get some too? The Animal Welfare Board, a statutory advisory body, has put out an appeal – which makes it addressed to all – that exhorts us to hug a cow on Valentine’s Day, February 14. The appeal makes short work of dissing the West and the ‘dazzle’ of its civilization in one terse paragraph before saying ‘all cow lovers may also celebrate the February 14 as Cow Hug day keeping in mind the importance of mother cow and make life happy and full of positive energy’. Now all that is fine, but does raise some tactical issues. First, how exactly does one hug a cow? The poor things can’t hug back so there’s no approaching them from the front. Even if they could, who’d want those hooves around his or her neck and a couple of hundred kilos of pressure on the shoulders? The rear is ruled out too; cows have an unfortunate tendency to kick those rear legs...

New Delhi: India has ramped up its effort to provide relief to quake-hit Turkey, as the sixth plane carrying rescue personnel, essentials and medical equipment for earthquake relief efforts reached the country. EAM S Jaishankar posted pictures of a field hospital on twitter and said, “This field hospital in Hatay, Turkiye will treat those affected by the earthquake. Our team of medical and critical care specialists and equipment are preparing to treat emergencies.” Medical treatment being given at Indian Army’s field hospital set up in Hatay, Turkey Earlier on Wednesday, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi said that the field hospital under ‘OperationDost’ has been set up at Iskenderun, Hatay province in Turkiye by the Indian Army. #OperationDost in full swing! The @adgpi Field Hospital being set up at Iskenderun, Hatay province in Türkiye. Once functional, it will be a 30-bedded fully-equipped medical facility with Operation Thea...

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that India was emerging as a manufacturing hub as well as one of the fastest growing economies globally and that had led to the developed countries of the world acknowledging India’s prosperity and its “growth story”. “India is emerging as a manufacturing hub, the world sees its prosperity in India’s growth, but some people don’t want to accept that fact. Some people who are neck deep in frustration refuse to accept India’s growth story. They cannot see the achievements of 140 crore Indians,” PM Modi said in a reference to the Congress party and its leaders. The Prime Minister was replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha. Beginning his speech by lauding President Droupadi Murmu’s address in Parliament, the PM said she was an inspiration for everyone and had “shown people the way”. In what seemed to be one of his sharpest attacks on the Congress-led Opposition, the Prime Minis...

New Delhi: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has told the Indian Air Force (IAF) that it is ready to build a medium category transport aircraft with an internal cargo capacity of 20 tonnes. HAL was left out of the C-295M deal for the manufacturing of transport aircraft which for the first time went to the private sector. The Indian Air Force (IAF) already has started the procurement process for a Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) that would have a cargo-carrying capacity of between 18 and 30 tonnes and be used for a variety of transport aircraft duties. According to a report by Indian Defence Research Wing (IDRW), although it has been called the An-32 Replacement program, it is expected that additional orders by the IAF for the C-295M will eventually happen that will be replacing the ageing An-32 fleet. IDRW quoted officials as saying that HAL will be propose the development of a Medium Category Transport Aircraft that is expected to bridge the size and capability gap between the ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned up at Parliament today during the ongoing Budget session. However, it was not his appearance in the Rajya Sabha that made the news, but his choice of attire that caused heads to turn. But what was so special about the sky-blue ‘sadri’ jacket donned by the prime minister? Officials say that the garment was made out of recycled plastic bottles. The garment was presented to him by the IndianOil Corporation during India Energy Week in Bengaluru on 6 February. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter later to praise the prime minister for donning the jacket. My heartfelt gratitude to PM Sh @narendramodi Ji for wearing the jacket made from fabric using recycled PET bottles! Truly exemplifies his leadership for #LiFE Movement – India led global mass movement to nudge individual & community action to protect & preserve environment 🍀 pic.twitter.com/9Qb8V2GkPS — Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) February...

New Delhi: India’s military vehicles may soon get an extra layer of protection. Researchers at the Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT) in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh have reportedly created a material that can transform any military vehicle into a stealth vehicle. According to a report by Indian Defence Research Wing (IDRW), this material has the ability to absorb over 90% of radar waves across a wide range of frequencies. The team of researchers at IIT, Mandi has claimed that this ability may prove useful during covert military operations. The researchers have also claimed that the material has the ability to absorb a wide range of radar frequencies, irrespective of the direction from where signals hit the target vehicle. The material can also be used to cover windows or glass panels of stealth vehicles to make them invisible to enemy radars. This material can also be applied to a several varieties of military equipment, such as aircraft, ships and other vehicles to reduce or elimin...